In the Bible the city is often referred to as Bethlehem Ephrathah, or Bethlehem -Judah. An ancient settlement, it is possibly mentioned in the Amarna Letters (14th-century-bce diplomatic documents found at Tell el-Amarna, Egypt ), but the reading there is uncertain.
Nazareth is known as “the Arab capital of Israel “. In 2019 its population was 77,445. The inhabitants are predominantly Arab citizens of Israel , of whom 69% are Muslim and 30.9% Christian. Nazareth .
Nazareth النَّاصِرَة an-Nāṣira נָצְרַת Natzrat | |
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Area code | +972 ( Israel ) |
Website | www. nazareth .muni.il |
Thousands of Christian pilgrims streamed into Bethlehem Monday night to celebrate the birth of Jesus . It’s the major event of the year in that West Bank town. But Israeli archaeologists now say there is strong evidence that Christ was born in a different Bethlehem , a small village in the Galilee .
Of the two Bethlehems in Israel – one near Jerusalem and the other up north – the former receives most of the fame while the latter maintains relative anonymity.
Both of the gospels which describe the nativity of Jesus agree that he was born in Bethlehem and then later moved with his family to live in Nazareth. The Gospel of Matthew describes how Joseph, Mary, and Jesus went to Egypt to escape from Herod the Great’s slaughter of the baby boys in Bethlehem.
The Holy Family left from Bethlehem to Egypt after an angel warned Joseph to leave with Jesus and Virgin Mary. They started their journey through northern Sinai until reaching Farama. The places they stayed in have now been transformed to churches and monasteries.
Jesus | |
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Born | c. 4 BC Kingdom of Judea, Roman Empire |
Died | AD 30 or 33 (aged 33–36) Jerusalem, Judea, Roman Empire |
Cause of death | Crucifixion |
Parent (s) | Mary Joseph |
Satellite view is showing Nazareth , a historic town in lower Galilee, it is the largest city and the capital of the Northern District of Israel. Nazareth is located in the north of the country at the most southerly points of the Lebanon mountain range, about 25 km west from the Sea of Galilee (Lake Tiberias).
Today , the agricultural village of Jesus’s time, thought to have a population of 500 or so, is a modern, primarily Arab city of steeples and domes and the hurly-burly of commercial enterprise.
Chapter 1 of Matthew’s Gospel recounts Jesus’s birth and naming and the beginning of chapter 2 states that Jesus was born in Bethlehem during the time of Herod the Great. Magi from the east came to Herod and asked him where they would find the King of the Jews, because they had seen his star.
According to the Gospels, Jesus was a Jewish man born in Bethlehem and raised in the town of Nazareth , in Galilee (formerly Palestine, now northern Israel) during the first century A.D.
The Virgin Mary, pregnant with the son of God, would hence have given birth to Jesus nine months later on the winter solstice. From Rome, the Christ’s Nativity celebration spread to other Christian churches to the west and east, and soon most Christians were celebrating Christ’s birth on December 25 .
Galilee , Hebrew Ha-galil, northernmost region of ancient Palestine , corresponding to modern northern Israel . Its biblical boundaries are indistinct; conflicting readings leave clear only that it was part of the territory of the northern tribe of Naphtali.
ém]; Latin: Bethleem; initially named after Canaanite fertility god Lehem) is a city in the central West Bank, Palestine, about 10 km (6.2 miles) south of Jerusalem. Its population is approximately 25,000 , and it is the capital of the Bethlehem Governorate.
Matthew also says that after Herod dies from an illness, Joseph, Mary and Jesus do not return to Bethlehem . Instead, they travel north to Nazareth in Galilee, which is modern-day Nazareth in Israel.